Chapter 120 – Liberation (Part Nine)

A riot started by tens of thousands of the worst Awakened criminals, isolated in the middle of the sea.

Suppressing it seemed like a daunting task in words alone.

However, Il-hyeon, having even mobilized his cores, showed an overwhelming presence when facing numerous enemies, and everything seemed to be progressing more smoothly than expected.

Just as the underground levels were completely covered in cobwebs and toxic fumes, and more than half the floors were neutralized, a mouse squeaked, sending a signal to Il-hyeon.

The prison’s lowest level, where only the worst criminals were isolated, considering the danger they posed to society and the severity of their crimes.

It was the area that required the most attention, and its excessive quietness with no signs of movement was suspicious, so he had sent the mouse down there. It seemed to have discovered something upon arrival.

Il-hyeon connected his mind more closely with the creature, and soon, the shared vision of the mouse entered his eyes.

“…No way.”

Il-hyeon doubted the scene that appeared before his eyes.

A completely empty corridor, devoid of any people.

Only the mouse that had reached the lowest level was there.

He checked to see if the prisoners were gathered somewhere, but even after moving the mouse to search the entire floor, he couldn’t find them.

“Damn it! What happened?”

Il-hyeon slammed his fist into the wall, erupting in frustration.

To an outsider, it would have looked like the act of a madman, staring blankly into empty space before lashing out, but around him were only spiders and fallen prisoners.

‘How in the world did they get out…?’

There were no clear signs that the prisoners from the lowest level had moved to other floors first.

Besides, unless the list he received from the guard was wrong, none of the prisoners on the lowest level had the ability for intercontinental spatial movement.

Therefore, the sudden mass escape of the most dangerous individuals at this point was something he hadn’t even considered.

‘The only remaining possibility… Could it be that *they* had a hand in this?’

The Woman in the White Mask had clearly mentioned ‘we’.

It was unlikely she was working alone, so their organization must have pulled some strings.

*Snap!*

As Il-hyeon snapped his fingers, strong winds blew from all directions, gathering together and transforming into the shape of a hawk.

When Il-hyeon climbed on, the hawk immediately soared into the air, then instantly changed direction and dove downwards.

Being indoors, it was naturally about to collide head-on with the floor below, but Il-hyeon, riding the hawk, continuously warped and broke through the successive layers of flooring.

During the descent, there was an unfortunate accident where a prisoner collided with the hawk and was sent flying, their bones shattering to pieces, but regardless, he was able to maintain his high speed and head deep underground.

*Thud!*

Arriving at the lowest level in an instant, Il-hyeon dismounted.

The gathered wind dispersed, the hawk’s form vanished, and a cool breeze lingered in the area for a moment.

“Hah, no wonder things were going too smoothly.”

Il-hyeon muttered, looking around.

Inside the gloomy prison, only the echo of his voice could be heard.

Aside from the flickering lights broken in places, bent iron bars, and the corpses of the guards who had already been taken down, there was nothing to be found.

If the prisoners from the lowest level had truly all escaped, it was not a matter that could be taken lightly.

*Squeak squeak!*

The cry of the mouse came from the other side.

As he approached in that direction, he saw the mouse next to a corpse, signaling and calling for him.

While looking around, he hadn’t found any other bodies besides the guards, but strangely, a man in a prison uniform lay dead alone inside a broken cell.

“Who is this?”

Il-hyeon knelt and examined the body.

There was no major damage, so he could guess the man was over forty and appeared to be Korean.

Also, there were signs that his life had been ended by a long cut to the neck, inflicted without any chance to resist.

It seemed all the other prisoners had been smuggled out, but this man alone was killed and left behind.

“I don’t recognize him…”

***

The incident at Deparc Prison was brought under control not long after.

With the strongest prisoners from the lowest level all gone, there weren’t many who could handle Il-hyeon’s summons in their weakened state, and the spatial ability users were also suppressed as a top priority, preventing any more escapes.

Except for the prisoners from the lowest level, no one managed to escape the prison and was subdued by Il-hyeon.

However, Il-hyeon’s return after finishing the cleanup was delayed.

The devices used to control the Awakened were completely destroyed, and other major facilities had also suffered extensive attacks, slowing down the recovery process.

Forced to wait with his hands tied, Il-hyeon learned about the situation outside via radio, and it seemed more serious than he had thought.

Terrorist attacks were occurring, primarily in densely populated civilian areas, and even major government agencies in various countries were being targeted.

The governments weren’t so careless as to be easily hit again after the initial attacks, but in regions with unstable security like Central and South America or the Middle East, a few cities had fallen completely into their hands, resulting in a total loss of control.

In particular, countries like Venezuela, which had lost most of their administrative power after the Gates opened and were receiving support from the international community, saw their governments completely collapse under the attacks, leading to a state of anarchy.

Moreover, with the number of Gates continuing to increase amidst this chaos, they couldn’t risk moving recklessly to counterattack.

“What is the world coming to?”

Il-hyeon sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, staring blankly at it.

His mind was a tangled mess, thinking about everything from worrying about his parents, the identity of the Woman in the White Mask, the aftermath of losing the prisoners from the lowest level, and what he needed to do next.

After the situation was roughly under control, he had sent Hyeon-seo, Seong-won, and his summons back. Seo Jeong-hwa was guarding the surface, where the guards and living prisoners were gathered.

Il-hyeon, on the other hand, sat in front of the corpse on the lowest level, hoping it might be the only clue to get a handle on the situation.

“Hmm?”

Il-hyeon felt a strange presence and looked down at his chest, where a white weasel suddenly popped out from inside his coat.

In the process, the small hat it was wearing brushed against his clothes and fell to the floor. Il-hyeon picked it up and pressed it firmly back onto its head.

The weasel then purred and rubbed against him.

“When did you get in here again?”

Il-hyeon looked at it with a bewildered expression.

He had no idea how it was getting in and out, moving about elusively without a trace for a while now.

Even Il-hyeon, who had summoned it, hadn’t noticed. It was strange, as if it possessed some special innate trait.

“Where’s your partner?”

“Kik!”

In response to Il-hyeon’s question, the creature pointed upwards with one paw.

It seemed the other weasel was with Seo Jeong-hwa on the surface.

“Why don’t you go to her too? You two seemed to stick together just fine.”

“Kik kik!”

As Il-hyeon casually suggested it, the weasel nodded and leaped out from his coat.

*Thump!* Landing lightly on the floor, it quickly scampered off in the direction of the passage.

“It really left just because I told it to…”

Il-hyeon let out a dry laugh at the creature’s retreating back, not even glancing back once.

Unlike before, it followed Seo Jeong-hwa around well enough without being told.

It seemed they had grown fond of each other while bickering during the time he’d kept them together.

A brief smile escaped him, but his mind was still cluttered. Il-hyeon stared blankly down the corridor where the creature had turned and disappeared.

But as he stared blankly, Jeong Jin-seong came into view, rounding the corner.

Seeing him, Il-hyeon shot up from his seat.

“You’re here earlier than I was told.”

“The situation was resolved faster than expected.”

The two approached each other warmly.

Il-hyeon was the first to look Jeong Jin-seong up and down.

“You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

“I’m fine. It was nothing compared to what happened here.”

The smile vanished from Jeong Jin-seong’s face, replaced by a serious expression.

“What on earth happened? This prison shouldn’t have been hit this hard under normal circumstances.”

“Well…”

Il-hyeon trailed off in response to his question.

The CCTV footage from the densely installed cameras had all been destroyed, and only Il-hyeon and Seo Jeong-hwa knew the detailed circumstances.

“There was an intruder.”

“An intruder…? Do you remember their face or abilities? You couldn’t handle them either?”

Jeong Jin-seong fired off questions.

Il-hyeon thought for a moment before answering.

“No, I never even encountered them, so I couldn’t do anything. By the time I realized an intruder was here, the devices were already broken. Other than the fact that they have an ability to put people to sleep…”

Il-hyeon gave a vague explanation and let his sentence fade.

Although he had witnessed everything that happened here, he deliberately chose not to mention the Woman in the White Mask.

He felt it was a problem he should handle himself rather than telling others.

It felt like something he had to do.

“I see… Well, it can’t be helped. Don’t blame yourself. You did an amazing job holding them off with just a few people.”

He seemed disappointed by the lack of information, but Jeong Jin-seong simply patted Il-hyeon’s shoulder without another word.

Even though the most dangerous prisoners from the lowest level had all escaped, stopping tens of thousands of other prisoners was a feat that would have been impossible if not for Il-hyeon.

Il-hyeon gave a bitter smile and turned his head.

Jeong Jin-seong’s gaze followed Il-hyeon’s, and he saw the corpse of a prisoner.

“Is that the man?”

“He was the only prisoner left here.”

Jeong Jin-seong approached the limp body inside the cell.

He had heard about the identity of the man who was left behind on his way here.

“To go as far as to murder him, there must have been some kind of grudge.”

“Do you have any idea who it might have been?”

Il-hyeon had asked the guards to identify the man, but the information in the file he received was very sparse, and the detailed criminal records were not included.

With the incident over and the immediate crisis averted, their stance was that they didn’t want to hand over information beyond what was required by regulations.

Therefore, all Il-hyeon knew about him was his name, Won Yu-han, his former ability and rank, and the fact that he was a vicious murderer who had been caught after being active a long time ago.

“Back when he was active, he caused all sorts of trouble. We had a run-in with him once.”

“Aegis did?”

Il-hyeon asked in surprise.

“Yeah, it was a long time ago, so I only heard about it secondhand, but there was an incident where a team member was murdered. A senior to us. It caused a huge uproar.”

Before Jeong Jin-seong joined Aegis, Won Yu-han, a notorious outlaw and a powerful A-Rank Awakened, had surprisingly even murdered a member of Aegis.

At the time, they kept it from the public and handled it as quietly as possible, but it was no ordinary matter.

It wasn’t an accidental fight from a chance encounter; it was a premeditated murder with a specific target.

“So what happened?”

“What do you think? Raven eventually hunted him down relentlessly. I heard they beat him half to death before throwing him in here. Figured letting him rot here would be more painful than a clean death.”

Jeong Jin-seong reached out and lifted the corpse’s head.

The old, gaunt face of Won Yu-han no longer held its former ferocity.

Jeong Jin-seong clicked his tongue and stood up.

“There must be a reason they killed only this guy before leaving. I’ll have to get the related files.”

“Um… they said it was against regulations.”

“Regulations, my ass. Follow me.”

Jeong Jin-seong scoffed and turned away, and Il-hyeon followed him with a smirk.